Keeping up with Coop

Grant Park

Winnipeg

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This article was published 15/05/2024 (561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Readers and dog people unite — Coop for Keeps, a sequel to Coop the Great, was launched May 4.

The Coop series, written by local author Larry Verstraete and published by Great Plains Press that started in 2018, focuses on, you guessed it, the titular fictional dog, a senior dachshund with a stark personality. Coop had been rehomed several times as a result of his outlook before he found his forever home in the first book.

Verstraete wasn’t planning on doing a second story, he said, but “that dog seemed to linger … I felt that there was more to the story.”

Although it is a sequel, he attempted to write Coop for Keeps so that it could stand alone.

The former teacher has published 18 books, mostly non-fiction. Because of his background in fact-based text, Coop’s adventures stem from the scientific research on dogs. It also ponders deep questions, presented in ways that the book’s target audience — kids in Grade 3 and up — can understand.

Despite Coop’s old age (for dogs), he asks the same questions as any child might when manoeuvring through the world for the first time. In one of the opening scenes, he’s faced with the reality of a crow funeral, and is faced with the subtleties of death.

“The fact that the dog is dealing with it, the kids can kind of relate to that,” Verstraete said. “That’s part of what literature does. It exposes them throughout the story … It gives them the option to explore things a little deeper.”

Coop is based on one of Verstraete’s family dogs, Bernie, who Verstraete described as “just a character.”

“Notorious for doing all sorts of damage,” — such as eating a new, expensive coat — “and impish, but on the other hand, friendly,” he said.

Other dogs, such as the family’s other pet, Haley, are more gentle, he continued, so Coop represents the divide in personalities in different animals and, even more so, how those different personalities can click or clash with the people who take care of them.

“Coop’s experience in the book mirrors dogs being returned to shelters such as the Winnipeg Humane Society,” said Darrel Hominuk, director of adoptions at WHS. “If the animal doesn’t align with expectations, people have to adjust to their behaviour.”

The book also brings up the natural need for connection between person and animal, said Lucy Sloan, founder of L’il Steps Wellness, an animal therapy program originally based in St. Malo, Man. Rescue animals come from a number of different experiences before they wind up in front of you, she said, and they align themselves with the people they feel the most comfortable with.

“It’s kind of magic,” she said. “The animal will come to them.”

Coop for Keeps and Coop the Great, are available at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Indigo, and online.

Verstraete will be doing two book signings in the future, at Indigo Kenaston (1590 Kenaston Blvd.) on May 25 and Indigo Polo Festival (695 Empress St.), on June 1.